Birmingham City Council has published an Assurance Framework report to ensure it keeps improving and will bring in non-executive advisers to keep it on track.<\/p>\n
The report asks cabinet to approve and implement by Tuesday 30 July what it calls an innovative model of \u2018progressive assurance\u2019.<\/p>\n
The non-executive advisors will work alongside the council\u2019s management team on priority areas such as; waste governance and industrial relations, financial resilience, good governance and cultural change, outcomes for vulnerable adults and children, risk management and peer support to the corporate management team and cabinet in leading this change and transformation.<\/p>\n
Since 2014 the city council has been in \u2018special measures\u2019 with a Birmingham Independent Improvement Panel (BIIP) being set up in 2014 to look into failing areas such child care and finance.<\/p>\n
In April this year the BIIP published its final report and said it acknowledged the meaningful progress that the Council had made since June 2018 and the huge amount of work that it is doing to get itself on the right track and tackle deeply entrenched problems.<\/p>\n
As a continuation of this, the Assurance Framework has been designed by the city council\u2019s leadership team to ensure a \u201crelentless and determined focus on improvement\u201d.<\/p>\n
The model will involve a quarterly strategic programme board with the non-executive advisers working alongside the council management team.<\/p>\n
It will also build on analysis of assurance and improvement models across a range of different sectors.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere in Birmingham we are all really keen that the city council continues to grow and change,\u201d said Leader of the council Coun Ian Ward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always said that improvement never stops, but we can take a fresh look at the way we continue to improve, ensuring it is ongoing and sustainable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt remains a testing time for local government and there has been a lot of talk about how councils can be supported differently to give residents, elected members and government confidence that risks are managed properly and that we can service residents in the best possible way.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I\u2019m really pleased to say that Birmingham City Council is at the forefront of this new way of thinking about how we ensure continued improvement, a new approach for local government supported by central government.<\/p>\n
Coun Ward said the timing of the report was particularly important as a number of notable improvements had been made this month including the children\u2019s social care services no longer requiring a commissioner.<\/p>\n
This will be followed by a report from the council\u2019s external auditor, due before audit committee next week, that will show that \u201ctangible progress has been made in response to statutory recommendations published last year\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Ministry for Communities and Local Government has also been engaged in the design of the new model, which has seen the council identify clear priority areas for improvement.<\/p>\n
The council will in future voluntarily be reporting progress to the secretary of state and the external auditor will be invited to observe the strategic board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The non-executive advisors will work alongside the council\u2019s management team on priority areas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237924,"featured_media":2023046,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"coauthors":[62334],"class_list":["post-2032198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","tag-featured-story"],"yoast_head":"\n